Funding for Ionia County incarceration alternatives cut

Ionia County is slated to lose almost 65 percent of its community corrections budget, after Michigan's own community corrections budget was slashed by $1.8 million.

The state plans to adjust each county's grant for the community corrections program, which provides alternatives to incarceration, to the level of its 2012 spending. In Ionia County, that amount is $32,000.

The cuts will impact services offered both in the jail and in the community. Community corrections programs are aimed at changing thinking patterns and behavior so that prison commitment rates are lowered or maintained, jail beds are reserved for those who need them, and recidivism is reduced.

Ionia County lost its community corrections manager in 2012, and did not have full and active programming, which resulted in "very little spending," said Melonie Swisher, the county's new community corrections manager, who took the job in January. As a result, the county is going to take "a huge hit.

"Already being five months into our fiscal year, we have spent a significant amount of our projected $90,000 in an attempt to get programs back up and running," Swisher said. "(The Community Corrections Advisory Board must determine how) we can keep moving forward, despite this difficult information."

Reduced funding will limit the county's ability to work with inmates to help them stay out of the criminal justice system, said Ionia County Sheriff Dale Miller.

"We're not going to be able to offer opportunities we want to to people who are incarcerated to inform them that the decisions they are making are part of the reason they're here, decisions that are not conducive to their being in the community," Miller said, adding that programs will continue as they are until funding runs out, and that Swisher will stay on until the end of March.

"(Swisher) is going to make sure we get the mid-year report (to the state) done, and put together a policy book on how the programs were set up, how they were run and the requirements," Miller said. "If we're able to start up again, at least we'll have good documentation."

The Community Corrections Advisory Board met last week to discuss how to continue with at least some of the services after funding is eliminated.

"We're looking at options to see what works best for us," Miller said. "We are continuing to move forward and make contact with the state to see if we can get the funding restored, or to get a better feel for (what to expect in) funding for next year."

Taking advantage of the opportunity for intervention with inmates is important, said Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger, chief judge of Ionia County 8th Circuit Court.

"I hope we can draw on expertise at the local level to see us through until the next contract in October. It's a significant period to go without funding, particularly at a time when so many people are being paroled," she said. "Strengthening support of local programming is so important from a public policy standpoint. I am hopeful we can find a resolution."

"Community corrections is an integral part to our criminal justice system and it is imperative for Ionia's offenders and the community to have programs available," Swisher said.